A Lovely Little Bodoni Imprint, from the Distinguished Libraries of Count Dmitry Boutourlin and Tibulle Desbarreaux-Bernard

POESIE. [with] ELOGIO. [and] LA BUCCOLICA DI VIRGILIO. [and] LE GEORGICHE DI VIRGILIO.

(BODONI IMPRINT). MANARA, PROSPERO VALERIANO, MARCHESE.

(Parma: Giambattista Bodoni, 1801). 165 x 113 mm. (6 1/2 x 4 1/2"). 3 p.l., 100 pp., [1] leaf (blank); 8 p.l., 132 pp., [1] leaf (blank); 1 p.l., VIII, [2], 86 pp., [1] leaf (blank); 2 p.l. (first blank), VII, [1], 135, [1] pp. Four parts bound in one volume. Virgil's "Bucolics" and "Georgics" translated into Italian verse by Prospero Manara.

Handsome contemporary scarlet straight-grain morocco, gilt in the style of Bozerian, covers framed by annular dots, gilt fillet, and cresting loop and dagger roll, smooth spine divided into panels by gilt rule and annular dots, four panels with lattice-work design, two with gilt lettering, one with Neoclassical ornament, gilt-rolled turn-ins, blue paste-paper endpapers, fore- and tail edges untrimmed. Front pastedown with engraved armorial bookplate of Comte Dmitry Boutourlin and ex-libris of Dr. Tibulle Desbarreaux-Bernard. Brooks 808. A couple of faint scratches to rear board, extremities lightly rubbed, otherwise QUITE A FINE COPY--remarkably clean, fresh, and bright internally, the smooth untrimmed paper with enormous margins, and the binding lustrous and altogether pleasing.

With distinguished provenance, this is a very appealing copy of a collection of a Parma poet's works, and an excellent specimen of Bodoni printing. Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813) worked for more than 20 years at the Royal press in Parma before obtaining permission to set up his own private press in 1791. Brooks says, "He took his printing in all its branches very seriously, laboured incessantly to perfect his type, had a fine artistic sense, . . . and produced books not only of a very high standard, but also showing a remarkably distinct individuality." Bodoni used the finest quality paper available, and his clear beautiful types have been envied and copied for many generations. "The result of his labours is a long list of books which . . . reach a very high, many of them the highest, level of technical excellence." That technical expertise is much on display here. Bodoni has clearly laid out text here as for a duodecimo, but printed it on especially fine octavo-sized paper, giving the book the luxurious feel of an especially Large Paper Copy. In addition, a range of his roman and italic types appears here, with some pages displaying up to 10 different type sizes. The text comprises the poems of Marchese Prospero Valeriano Manara (1714-1800), a Parma statesman who through his career served as Minister of State and was a close correspondent of the duke. Assembled by Manara's sons following his death, the present work is composed of four parts. The first is made up of Manara's original eclogues and sonnets; this is followed by Italian translations of Virgil's "Bucolics" and "Georgics" (the latter appearing here for the first time); and the fourth section contains an elegy written in Manara's honor by Count Antonio Cerati (pen name Filandro Cretense, 1738-1816). The present copy, in attractive contemporary morocco, comes with the provenance of two major 19th century collections. Previous owner Count Dmitry Boutourlin (1763-1829) was a general, politician, historian, librarian, and one of Russia's most famous bibliophiles, whose impressive library included 244 early manuscripts and about 1,000 incunables, in addition to a complete collection of Bodoni imprints and a nearly complete assemblage of Aldine editions. After his retirement from the military, Boutourlin served as director of the Russian Imperial Library. Our copy later resided in the collection of Toulouse physician and bibliophile Tibulle Desbarreaux-Bernard (1798-1880), who published widely on print history. (ST20887)

Price: $1,900.00